About Us

Biographies

Directors

Robert Watson OBEChief Executive

Mr Watson joined Hilton as Chief Executive in 2002 and has overseen the successful growth of the Group to date. Prior to this, he worked for the Foyle Food Group ('Foyle'), which he founded with his father and partner in 1977. At Foyle, he worked his way up through various positions to become Chief Executive Officer in 1987, and led Foyle through significant turnover growth. Mr Watson gained an Institute of Directors diploma in 1996, received an OBE in 2000 for services to the meat industry and in 2005 was accepted into the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame in Northern Ireland. He was also an industry leader during the BSE crisis, representing Northern Ireland, and is a government appointee to various industry forums. He was a board member of the Livestock Meat Commission (LMC) from 1995 to 1999, and Food For Britain (FFB) from 1997 to 2003.

Nigel MajewskiChief Financial Officer

Mr Majewski was appointed as Finance Director of Hilton in 2006. He joined Hilton after 11 years with PepsiCo, from 1995 until 2006, most recently as Chief Financial Officer of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and prior to this as Finance Director for Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers, Poland. From 1990 until 1995, Mr Majewski gained extensive meat industry experience at Bernard Matthews plc, first as Financial Controller, then as Commercial Director for the then newly acquired leading poultry company in Hungary. Mr Majewski has also worked in various finance roles for Royal Dutch Shell plc and Whitbread and Co plc. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and graduated from Birmingham Polytechnic in 1981 with a first class honours degree in accountancy. Nigel is Chairman of the Risk Management Committee.

Philip HefferChief Operating Officer

Mr Heffer joined Hilton at its inception in 1994, as Managing Director. His current role is Chief Operating Officer, responsible for all Hilton’s businesses with its major customers. From 1986 to 1990, Mr Heffer was Sales Director, and earlier production manager, for Romford Wholesale Meats Limited, supplying a number of different retailers with meat products. Mr Heffer attended Smithfield College and became an associate member of the Institute of Meat in 1984.

Colin Smith OBENon-Executive Chairman

Colin joined the Hilton Food Group in 2010 as a Non-Executive Director and has extensive experience in the food and distribution industry. A Chartered Accountant, he was at Safeway plc for 20 years in senior finance roles including Finance Director and for the last six years as Chief Executive. Colin has held a number of board and advisory roles in the industry including the Chairmanship of Assured Food Standards and board adviser to Natures Way Foods. He was previously a Non-Executive Director of McBride plc and Chairman of Poundland Holdings Limited for 10 years until 2012 and thereafter a Non-Executive Director for a further two years before retiring in 2014. He is currently Chairman of the social enterprise The Challenge Network and a Non-Executive Director of LXi REIT plc. Colin was appointed Chairman of the Board on 25 May 2016 and is Chairman of the Nomination Committee.

John WorbyNon-Executive Director

John Worby is a Chartered Accountant with a wealth of experience in public companies and the food sector. He was Group Finance Director at Genus plc retiring in 2013 and previously was Group Finance Director and Deputy Chairman of Uniq plc. John currently holds Non-Executive Directorships at Fidessa Group plc and Carr’s Group plc and formerly was a Non-Executive Director at Cranswick plc and Connect Group plc. John is also a member of the Financial Reporting Review Panel. John is Chairman of the Audit Committee and is the Senior Independent Director.

Christine CrossNon-Executive Director

Christine Cross was originally a food scientist before devoting the 14 years to 2003 with Tesco in senior roles focusing on own brand, non-food and global sourcing. She has since worked globally with a wide range of food and non-food retailing businesses and currently holds Non-Executive Directorships with Sonae SGPS SA (Portugal), Coca-Cola European Partners plc and several private companies as well as numerous advisory roles. Former Non-Executive Director positions were held until recently with Next plc, Woolworths Limited (Australia), Brambles Limited (Australia) and Kathmandu Holdings Limited (New Zealand). Christine is Chair of the Remuneration Committee.